7-1, on track for 9-3 in the regular season.
Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 6-2
2016Poinsettia BowlW 24-21
2018Famous Idaho Potato BowlW 49-18
2019Hawaii BowlL 34-38
2020Boca Raton BowlW 49-23
2021Independence BowlL 28-31
2022New Mexico BowlW 24-23
2024Alamo BowlW 36-14
2025Pop-Tarts BowlW 25-21
This week Wed Nov 4
- Last gameW 27-20 vs. Arizona State Sat Oct 31
- This season7-1
- On track for9-3 regular season
- Nextat Utah Sat Nov 7
- Stature31st of 138 FBS programs
What the result changed
- AP poll #8 → #7 up one
- Playoff odds 18% → 17% CFB Zeitgeist forecast, before and after
Saturday: at Utah
Sat Nov 7, 12 pm ET 
· No. 3 Utah is 8-0 · Sitake vs. Morgan Scalley (not counting 1 game in seasons either team changed coaches) · BYU’s chance to win: 31% (the site’s model)
His week
Several stories this week →
The headlines, Nov 1–4 from a few outlets
Yahoo SportsBYU vs ASU: Tempers Flare, Coach Gets Furious, Kalani Sitake & Kenny Dillingham's Tensions Grow After Officiating BlunderSun Nov 1
KSL SportsBYU Football Head Coach Kalani Sitake | Utah Week Press Conference | Nov. 2, 2026Mon Nov 2
BYU AthleticsKalani Sitake | BYU Football | Media Availability | Utah | November 2, 2026Mon Nov 2- KSL SportsKalani Sitake emphasizes urgency as No. 7 BYU prepares for No. 3 UtahSun Nov 1
On the podcasts
Locked OnBYU Cougars & Utah Utes Rivalry redefined—Kalani Sitake & Morgan Scalley Set perfect Example | Rob Wright Has Ideal Season Debut | Jane Hedengren & Kiehi Akina Shine AgainTue Nov 3- Locked OnKalani Sitake Explains high-stakes Call for BYU Football on LJ Martin Status vs. Utah | Will Rivalry Fervor Go Overboard?Mon Nov 2
Offense: 18th of 138 per play. Defense: 49th.
4 games left
- Sat Nov 7at Utah (8-0)31%
- Sat Nov 14vs. Baylor (5-3)44%
- Sat Nov 21at Kansas (3-5)71%
- Sat Nov 28vs. Cincinnati (5-3)78%
Percent: BYU’s chance to win, from the site’s model. Records are through today. Networks as announced; the rest are set closer to kickoff.
How the season got here
Where BYU stood among 138 FBS programs by stature after each game (1st is the highest; the CFB Zeitgeist ledger).
- Oct 26–Nov 1W 27-20 vs. Arizona State9 headlines · 45th of 138Kalani Sitake learns his lesson from UCF game against Arizona State BYU Cougars Wire
- Oct 19–25L 31-39 at UCF20 headlines · 23rd of 138Why Nick Saban was blown away by Kalani Sitake, BYU Cougars win over Notre Dame Yahoo Sports
- Oct 12–18W 28-24 vs. Notre Dame10 headlines · 37th of 138BYU football’s Kalani Sitake sends confident message to players for Notre Dame blockbuster Yahoo Sports
- Oct 5–11W 24-10 vs. Iowa State9 headlines · 43rd of 138Kalani Sitake | BYU Football | Postgame Press Conference | Iowa State | October 9, 2026 BYU Athletics
- Sep 28–Oct 4W 17-10 at TCU7 headlines · 53rd of 138Kalani Sitake Gives Encouraging Update on LJ Martin, Isaiah Glasker Injuries
Heartland College Sports - Sep 21–27 · rebuiltNo game6 headlines · 55th of 138Kalani Sitake says No. 9 Cougars will use early bye week to their advantage Yahoo Sports
Each week as this page showed it at the time. Weeks marked rebuilt came before this page existed: they were built afterward from only what was known by the end of that week.
Watch the biggest plays from BYU’s games, ranked by how much each moved the chance to win.
Report card
Above the median on both sides of the ball — 71st percentile offense, 60th percentile defense.
BYU, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.
Offense
Defense
Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.
Poach watch
This winter
Our poach model, on his record so far, the win chances for every game he has left, his program, his pay and his background. Ranked against the 132 FBS head coaches this season. The zone words describe the market’s interest; none of them says he is leaving.
What drives his number
The biggest factors in his profile, each against the typical FBS head coach today. The games he has left are priced into the number, not listed here.
- ▲ HigherHis team is 7-1, outscoring opponents by 13.6 points a game · AP-ranked
- ▼ LowerAge 51 · coaching at his alma mater
- ▲ Higher23-4 over his previous two seasons here
How good is this number? It ranks a head coach who leaves for another head-coaching job ahead of one who stays 78 to 82% of the time, and its average came within a point of the share who actually left. What it can’t do
Tested on every FBS head coach from 2012 through 2025, each season scored by a model fit only on the seasons before it. From three games on, given one coach who left for a head-coaching job elsewhere or an NFL coordinator job and one who stayed, it ranked the one who left ahead 79 to 82% of the time; in a season’s first two games, 78%. Its average chance came within a point of the share who actually left. It counts a move a coach makes while he still holds the job; when his school ends it, that doesn’t count, even if another school then hires him.
- The live number prices the games he has left with the power model’s ratings from this season. The test priced them with each team’s rating from the season before, because ratings made during past seasons were not kept, so this live version could not be replayed.
- Programs new to FBS have no FBS record before this season in the data it reads, so their coaches are scored without one.
- It is frozen: it learns nothing from 2026 until a deliberate refit.
- A coach hired in December needs his background (age, alma mater, the state he was born in) added before his first game, or he shows as not rated.
Fans
Fan chatter
- Oct 31W 27-20 vs. Arizona State
Sitake being willing to take risks has never been an issue. The issue has been he takes stupid risks.
BYU fan - Oct 17W 28-24 vs. Notre Dame
I like Sitake fired up
BYU fan - Oct 9W 24-10 vs. Iowa State
It’s really frustrating to know that if those 4th downs were executed even moderately well this game is 42-3 right now. That is peak Kalani Sitake.
BYU fan
Earlier weeks
- Sep 19W 41-23 at Colorado State
Sitake has gotta rip these idiots a new one
BYU fan
Several stories about him this week
Sat Nov 7: Utah
57th of 104 FBS head coaches · from a few outlets and r/CFB
Yahoo Sports Nov 1 · one outlet
What they’re talking about
The headlines for each topic are on the News tab.
Dozens of stories about him this season
from dozens of outlets and r/CFB
Kalani Sitake faced Notre Dame 32 years ago today — as a freshman fullback for BYU
Deseret News +1 Oct 15 · a few outlets
What they’re talking about
The headlines for each topic are on the News tab.
Could another school hire him? What has he said?
Across his career
146 stories about him across 11 seasons
Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Nov 4.
Stats
Big games
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
7-6 against his rivals. Just 1-2 against Joey McGuire.
ATS is his record against the spread: did his team beat the closing betting line, winning by more than it or losing by less? Lines start in 2013; a dash means fewer than 6 of those games had one. One-score games carry no spread record: a big favorite that wins a close game has almost always failed to cover, so that number would say nothing about the coach.
Signature games
Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.
How he plays
Run/pass mix, by field position
Passed more than the situation called for under Grimes.
8,386 run and pass snaps at BYU, 2016–2025, his own games, one row per offensive coordinator. Each cell is how much more often he passed than the rest of FBS did in the same situation (field zone, down, distance, score, quarter, same season), in percentage points.
Pass rate, stint by stint
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next, against the FBS-wide average of 41% pass. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 449 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2004–2025.
Building the roster
Five numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
His recruiting, really
His 9 ranked BYU classes of his own have averaged #61 nationally — best #21, worst #81.
His class — he had the full signing cycle
Rank is each signing class’s national recruiting rank (#1 is best). Only a class he had a full signing cycle to build counts as his.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
of his 2026 roster arrived on his watch — 151 of 151 players. Nobody is left from before he was hired.
Of his own players on this roster, 15% came through the transfer portal; the rest are non-portal arrivals (high-school signees, JUCO transfers, walk-ons).
This tenure spans the 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor: seasons before 2021 structurally cannot be classified portal-vs-not (they land in 'unknown' below), so the portal-share figure understates how many pre-2021 arrivals might have been transfers under the pre-portal-tracking transfer rules.
20% of his 254 new players since 2022 came through the portal (FBS programs, same seasons: 23%). His share was 9% in 2022 and 17% in 2026.
Graded on the players who arrived and the players who left together, his portal seasons came out better than most FBS programs’ in 1 and worse than most in 3 of the 5 seasons graded. our read
Each player counts once, in the season he arrived. 2021, the first season of portal tracking here, is left off because its arrival records look incomplete (about 31 new players per FBS team, against 52 in 2022). Portal grade: the site’s position-value-weighted scoring (the same engine as the Portal Heat feed and the “Who won the portal” grade): the value of the players who came in minus the value of the ones who left, ranked against every FBS program’s grade that same season. A season with fewer than 4 transfers in and out is not graded.
“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.
Size up front
Size up front
Offensive linemen on his BYU rosters have averaged within a few pounds of the FBS average (2016–2026). In the three seasons before he arrived, BYU’s line averaged 8 lb heavier than the FBS average.
Average listed weight of every offensive lineman on each season’s roster, holdovers included, against every FBS roster that season (2010 on; a program needs 3+ seasons under him to appear). Weights are the ones programs publish, and programs list differently. This describes size only — not scheme, and not quality.
Where he recruits
is his biggest recruiting state: 123 of 270 signees (46%) across his 2016–2026 tenure, drawn from 23 states in all. Next: CA (58).
59% of his signees come from UT and its 5 border states (AZ 19, NV 7, ID 5, CO 4).
Off this map: 9 signees to the east (SC 3, GA 2, others), 6 to the west (HI 6) and 2 to the north (WA 2).
- median hometown distance
- 239 mi
- within 100 mi
- 48%
- within 500 mi
- 65%
- beyond 1,000 mi
- 11%
The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.
The NFL pipeline
The NFL pipeline
players drafted into the NFL off his teams here. He brought in 12 of them himself; 3 arrived under Bronco Mendenhall. 1 went in the first round.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | R6.12 | Jack Kelly | Linebacker |  New York Giants | |
| 2026 | R7.32 | Carsen Ryan | Tight End |  Cleveland Browns | |
| 2024 | R2.31 | Kingsley Suamataia | Offensive Tackle |  Kansas City Chiefs | |
| 2023 | R4.04 | Blake Freeland | Offensive Tackle |  Indianapolis Colts | |
| 2023 | R5.30 | Jaren Hall | Quarterback |  Minnesota Vikings | |
| 2023 | R5.43 | Puka Nacua | Wide Receiver |  Los Angeles Rams | |
| 2022 | R5.08 | Tyler Allgeier | Running Back |  Atlanta Falcons | |
| 2021 | R1.02 | Zach Wilson | Quarterback |  New York Jets |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | R3.06 | Brady Christensen | Offensive Tackle |  Carolina Panthers | |
| 2021 | R7.23 | Khyiris Tonga | Defensive Tackle |  Chicago Bears | |
| 2021 | R7.24 | Chris Wilcox | Cornerback |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| 2021 | R7.31 | Dax Milne | Wide Receiver |  Washington Football Team | |
| 2019 | R3.16 | Sione Takitaki | Outside Linebacker |  Cleveland Browns | recruited under Bronco Mendenhall |
| 2018 | R3.06 | Fred Warner | Inside Linebacker |  San Francisco 49ers | recruited under Bronco Mendenhall |
| 2017 | R4.28 | Jamaal Williams | Running Back |  Green Bay Packers | recruited under Bronco Mendenhall |
A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.
News
Stories about him
Headlines, grouped by what they are about. Each is the outlet’s own.
This week
Press conference and quotes
- KSL SportsKalani Sitake reacts after No. 8 BYU defeats Arizona State | Postgame press conferenceOct 31
- KSL SportsKalani Sitake emphasizes urgency as No. 7 BYU prepares for No. 3 UtahNov 1
- BYU AthleticsKalani Sitake | BYU Football | Media Availability | Utah | November 2, 2026Nov 2
- KSL SportsBYU Football Head Coach Kalani Sitake | Utah Week Press Conference | Nov. 2, 2026Nov 2
Profile and feature
- KSL SportsBYU sets single-game sack high in Kalani Sitake era against Arizona StateOct 31
- BYU Cougars WireKalani Sitake learns his lesson from UCF game against Arizona StateOct 31
This season
Press conference and quotes
- 13News Now +4DANGER ZONE? BYU Football Riding High of Highs—Can UCF Knights Derail Things for Kalani Sitake & co? - 13newsnow.comOct 24
All 8 articles
Locked OnBYU Football & Kalani Sitake Look to Extend dominance Over Arizona Saturday AfternoonLocked OnKalani Sitake Explains high-stakes Call for BYU Football on LJ Martin Status vs. Utah | Will Rivalry Fervor Go Overboard?WFMY News 2UNDERVALUED? Bear Bachmeier & BYU Football DEFY Perceptions—Kalani Sitake Focuses on WINNING vs. UCF - wfmynews2.com13News NowDANGER ZONE? BYU Football Riding High of Highs—Can UCF Knights Derail Things for Kalani Sitake & co? - 13newsnow.comkiiitv.comDANGER ZONE? BYU Football Riding High of Highs—Can UCF Knights Derail Things for Kalani Sitake & co?KVUEDANGER ZONE? BYU Football Riding High of Highs—Can UCF Knights Derail Things for Kalani Sitake & co?Locked OnKalani Sitake warns of 'RAT poison' as BYU Football Surges to #2 Ranking—Is Trap Game Coming?Locked OnKiller instinct? Kalani Sitake & BYU Football ignore Critics, Defend Philosophy & a Plan for Success - Deseret News +2Kalani Sitake addresses relationship with AD Brian Santiago and his past comments about BYU’s resourcesAug 12
All 3 articles
Deseret NewsKalani Sitake on resources at BYU, relationship with Brian SantiagoThe Salt Lake TribuneKalani Sitake addresses relationship with AD Brian Santiago and his past comments about BYU’s resourcesYahoo SportsKalani Sitake addresses past comments regarding resources at BYU, his relationship with Brian Santiago - Yahoo SportsBig 12 team preview: BYU in an unfamiliar place as a preseason favorite. Will Kalani Sitake’s Cougars deliver?Aug 3
- BYU Cougars WireSonny Dykes talks about underperforming TCU team and Kalani SitakeOct 1
- BYU AthleticsKalani Sitake | BYU Football | Media Availability | Iowa State | October 5, 2026Oct 5
Conference and schedule
CBS SportsBig 12 coach rankings 2026: Kalani Sitake makes dramatic rise as Deion Sanders' stock faltersAug 5- Locked OnKalani Sitake & BYU Football Well-Positioned for Big 12 glory While Jake Hatch Makes a PivotAug 14
ESPNBYU's Kalani Sitake, a favorite coach, on the verge of the CFPAug 16- Locked OnBYU Cougars Ranked #14 – Were Kalani Sitake & Underdog BYU Football Program snubbed Again?Aug 18
- Tulsa WorldBig 12 pregame: BYU coach Kalani Sitake showed class; Kansas-Missouri rivalry did notSep 17
Game preview
- BYU Cougars WireEvery BYU season opener result under Kalani SitakeAug 27
- BYU Cougars WireOn3 cites potential Sitake vs Santiago decisionAug 29
- BYU Daily UniverseKnow The Foe: BYU vs. Bye — How Cougars handle idle weeks under SitakeSep 24
- Locked OnUtah Utes or BYU Cougars? Who is the Big 12's Best Team? Morgan Scalley vs Kalani SitakeSep 29
- BYU Daily UniverseBYU's Sitake previews primetime clash with No. 2 Notre DameOct 14
Loss
KARE 11 +1Power struggle? Kalani Sitake & Brian Santiago clash Over BYU Football & Athletic Department FutureAug 31- First Coast News +1BYU, Kalani Sitake & pcsa—Will the Cougars sustain Success or fall in New Era? Even Footing ArrivesAug 31
All 3 articles
First Coast NewsBYU, Kalani Sitake & PCSA—Will the Cougars SUSTAIN Success or FALL in New Era? Even Footing Arrives - firstcoastnews.comLocked OnBYU Football's Youth Movement Shines Thru on Initial Depth Chart | Kalani Sitake Sets Tone & Tenor of Season | Bear Bachmeier, LJ Martin & Justin Kirkland Ready to RollLocked OnKalani Sitake calls out byu's Administration & Pushes for Football Investment now | Walker Lyons Explains Roger Saleapaga Synergy - KSL SportsKalani Sitake recaps BYU football's first day of fall camp 2026Aug 5
Sports Illustrated5 Things We Learned from Kalani Sitake on Day 1 of BYU Fall CampAug 6- BYU Cougars WireKalani Sitake has to make sure BYU doesn't suffer a letdown at UCFOct 22
Injuries
- Sports IllustratedKalani Sitake Provides Injury Updates on BYU Veterans Raider Damuni and Isaiah GlaskerSep 6
- Sports Illustrated +1Kalani Sitake Provides Injury Updates on BYU Stars LJ Martin, Isaiah GlaskerOct 5
All 3 articles
- Deseret NewsKalani Sitake updates injury situation, also says young receivers ‘are going to be fine’Aug 13
- BYU Cougars WireKalani Sitake: 'Praying for a miracle' about Raider Damuni's injurySep 6
- Sports IllustratedKalani Sitake Provides Injury Updates on Roger Saleapaga and Kyle SfarciocSep 20
Win
- Lawless RepublicTop 13 BYU football games that could've been bad beats in the Kalani Sitake eraAug 8
- KSL SportsKalani Sitake Reaction to No. 14 BYU's 63-7 Victory Over Utah TechSep 6
The Salt Lake TribuneGordon Monson: Kalani Sitake knows what it will take — and cost — for BYU football to win a national championshipSep 18
RoundtableKalani Sitake Wants More Resources at BYU — A Win Over Notre Dame Could Strengthen His CaseOct 16- ESPNKalani Sitake, 'a BYU fan first,' emotional after Cougars' upset of Notre DameOct 17
In his own words
Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.
Career
Coaching career
The arc of his career is on Now.
Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
4th-best BYU tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Bronco Mendenhall (2005–2015).
| Season | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 9-4 | 4-9 | 7-6 | 7-6 | 11-1 | 10-3 | 8-5 | 5-7 | 11-2 | 12-2 | 7-1 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | — | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | W bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||||||
| OC | Ty Detmer | Ty Detmer | Jeff Grimes | Jeff Grimes | Jeff Grimes | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | Aaron Roderick | |
| DC | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Ilaisa Tuiaki | Jay Hill | Jay Hill | Jay Hill | Kelly Poppinga | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||||||
| Offense | 41 | 19 | 79 | 69 | 99 | 95 | 81 | 10 | 47 | 82 | 70 | |
| Defense | 91 | 51 | 77 | 60 | 85 | 27 | 12 | 39 | 59 | 76 | 63 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | ||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 37.5 | 42.5 | 42.8 | 49.3 | 59.2 | 55.8 | 51.5 | 52.2 | 49.6 | 41.0 | 49.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 28.3 | 40.2 | 38.8 | 46.2 | 41.9 | 43.0 | 43.3 | 50.0 | 32.5 | 39.8 | 36.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 31.1 | 34.1 | 36.7 | 23.3 | 63.3 | 46.2 | 40.6 | 37.9 | 38.3 | 40.8 | 38.9 | |
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
Coach of the Year: Big 12 Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year (2025)
2 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Brady Christensen (2020), Keelan Marion (2024)
AI Narratives — “BYU's Offensive Line Faces Pressure After Offseason Exodus” and 5 more on the team page.
All-time wins
Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.
3rd all-time at BYU
Was he good?
The data leans positive, where the data can separate from zero: every conclusive reading points the same way.
+0.1 pts at BYU · #676 of 1290 · middle halfModel fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coordinator years
Defensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.
How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from our coordinator career records; head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from the staff assignments record. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.